Apr 3, 2022

ATHER DASHBOARD: GETTING READY FOR MINTING POLYGON NFTS

Ather Labs Atlas

The Spaceship Loot box claiming is almost here and we want to make sure that you prepare yourself if you intend to mint any Loot boxes, purchase them from NFT marketplaces, or bring the NFT Loot boxes back into your Off-Chain Account Inventory. This article will teach you: how to set up the Polygon Network in your MetaMask Wallet, how to obtain MATIC, and how to bridge ETH to Polygon.

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Contents

Setting up the Polygon Network on your Metamask Wallet

This guide is specifically for Metamask wallet users that want to mint NFTs, such as SIPHER Loot boxes, or bring them back Off-Chain.

For purposes of this tutorial, we will assume that you already have Metamask installed and are storing your Sipher NFT(s) within that wallet. If you do not have Metamask installed, please make sure you install prior to following these instructions (Official download link for Metamask).

There are a few ways to add the Polygon Network to your Metamask wallet. We’ve included three of these methods below, starting with the easiest. If you’ve tried one of them and it does not work, please try the other options available.

• Add Polygon Network via Ather Labs Dashboard (after launch)
• Add Polygon Network via Polygonscan
• Manually add the Polygon Network within the wallet

Adding Polygon Network via the Ather Labs Dashboard

When you navigate to the ‘Spaceships’ section of the Ather Labs Dashboard, there should be a top bar notification, similar to the image below.

Ather Labs Dashboard — ‘Spaceships’ section top bar notification to switch to Polygon network

1. Clicking on the blue “Polygon Mainnet” text should automatically display your Metamask wallet extension and will request that you approve adding the Polygon Network to your Metamask wallet.

2. Click on the “Approve” button, which should display the next window, asking whether you want to switch to the Polygon Network.

3. Click on the “Switch Network” button

4. You’re good to go! Now your Metamask wallet is in the Polygon Network.

Adding the Polygon Network via Polygonscan

Polygonscan is one of the Blockchain Explorers for the Polygon Network.

1. To add the Polygon Network to your Metamask wallet via Polygonscan, simply navigate to their website (https://polygonscan.com/) and scroll to the bottom of the page.

2. At the bottom-right, you should see an “Add Polygon Network” button.

3. Similar to the process described above for adding Polygon Network via Ather Labs Dashboard, clicking on the “Add Polygon Network” button should pop up the Metamask Notification.

4. Afterward, you can follow the same process as described in the Ather Labs Dashboard method (i.e. click on “Approve” and then click on “Switch Network”).

5. That’s it, you’ve added the Polygon Network to your Metamask wallet!

Manually add the Polygon Network within Metamask

Another way to add the Polygon Network to your Metamask wallet is within the Metamask extension itself. This is more of a manual process but should work if all else fails.

1. To add the Polygon Network (Mainnet) manually via Metamask, you must first open your Metamask extension, which should bring up your wallet.

2. Afterward, click on the Network selection drop-down button (i.e. where it says “Ethereum Mainnet” by default) and click on “Add Network”.

3. This should display the ‘Add a Network’ form page. Add the following to each of the fields

• Network NameMatic (Polygon) Mainnet
• New RPC URLhttps://polygon-rpc.com/
• Chain ID137
• Currency SymbolMATIC
• Block Explorer URL(Optional)https://polygonscan.com/

It should look like the following image once you have finished.

4. Click on “Save”. Doing so will allow you to switch over to the Polygon Network from the Network dropdown list.

5. Nicely done — you have added the Polygon Network to your Metamask!

Obtaining MATIC

There are a few ways to obtain MATIC, but we will mention the ones that are relatively cheap or easy.

1. Obtain it for free from a MATIC faucet
2. Purchase from a Centralized Exchange (CEX)
3. Purchase from a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) — [Must Bridge ETH to Polygon first]
4. Use the “Swap for Gas” Tool — [Must Bridge ETH to Polygon first]

Obtain MATIC for Free from a Faucet

A crypto faucet is essentially an app or a website that allows you to receive small amounts of cryptocurrencies for performing simple tasks within that app or website. For instance, some of them simply require you to connect your Metamask wallet and verify that you are not a bot.

As it relates to MATIC, there are various faucets out there. These typically distribute a very small amount of MATIC, but enough to cover multiple transactions on the Polygon Network.

Note: We are not partnered with any MATIC faucet and as such cannot vouch for the validity of any that are recommended here. For your security, we suggest that you connect a ‘burner’ wallet to the faucet, obtain the free MATIC, and then send those tokens to your primary wallet (i.e. the one you will be using to mint NFTs in the Ather Labs Dashboard).

One of the faucets that we found is currently working is found via the following link: https://matic.zayd.info/.

• To get some free MATIC from this faucet, simply connect your wallet, click on “Get Some MATIC!”, and complete the Captcha verification.

• Congrats! You should now have a small amount of MATIC to perform more than a few transactions on the Polygon Network.

Purchase MATIC from a Centralized Exchange (CEX)

If you are unable to find any faucets, or you prefer to get MATIC by purchasing it yourself, you can do so through a CEX. This includes Coinbase, Binance, FTX, KuCoin, or any other CEX you already have an account with.

We won’t get into the details of how to purchase via a CEX given that there are various of them available, but it should be as simple as purchasing MATIC and then initiating a withdrawal to your Metamask wallet address.

Note: Depending on the CEX platform, there might be more than one Network option available for withdrawing MATIC. Please make sure you are withdrawing via the MATIC (Polygon) Network.

After you’ve transferred the MATIC into your Metamask wallet, you should now be able to pay for the (MATIC) gas fees related to minting or bringing NFTs Off-Chain on the Ather Labs Dashboard.

The following couple of options requires you to bridge some ETH into Polygon. If you would like to obtain MATIC in these ways, please head over to the “Bridging ETH to Polygon” section at the bottom of this article.

Purchase from a Decentralized Exchange (DEX)

Similar to purchasing MATIC from a CEX, you can purchase via a DEX. The main difference is that via a DEX, you could use the same Metamask wallet that you’ve already added the Polygon Network into. In essence, you would exchange another cryptocurrency (such as ETH or WETH) for MATIC.

Some of the DEXs that allow you to do this with Polygon Network tokens are the following:

QuickSwap → https://quickswap.exchange/#/swap

QuickSwap — Exchanging ETH for MATIC

Sushiswap → https://app.sushi.com/swap

SushiSwap is originally an Ethereum-based DEX. However, it allows Polygon Network exchanges simply by changing to the Matic Mainnet within your Metamask wallet.

Sushiswap— Exchanging ETH for MATIC

Swapping a very small amount of ETH (or any other asset you have within the Polygon Network) to MATIC should be enough to cover the gas fees of many transactions. Even if you were to buy one full MATIC token for approximately $2, it would be more than enough.

Using the ‘Swap for Gas’ Tool

This method is very similar to utilizing a DEX for obtaining MATIC. The main difference is that this alternative is meant to be ‘gas-less’.

The tool can be found at the following link: https://wallet.polygon.technology/gas-swap

You simply select the amount of MATIC that you would like to receive, then approve and swap.

Regardless of the method selected, after you’ve completed swapping ETH or WETH for MATIC within the Polygon Network, you should be all set to perform any On-Chain related transactions on the Ather Labs Dashboard, such as Spaceship Loot box claiming!

Bridging ETH to Polygon

Bridging ETH from the Ethereum Network to the Polygon Network is only necessary if you wish to purchase assets within the Polygon Network. For instance, if you would like to obtain MATIC via options 3 or 4 as described in the ‘Obtaining Matic’ section (see above) you will need to perform the bridging. Additionally, Polygon ETH (WETH) will be the currency utilized for all purchases and sales since SIPHER Spaceship Loot boxes, parts, and Spaceships will all be hosted in the Polygon Network.

To get started, make sure you have already added the Polygon Network to your Metamask wallet. If you haven’t completed this step, please refer to the beginning of this article — at the ‘Setting up the Polygon Network on your Metamask Wallet’ section.

There are a few ways to bridge ETH into Polygon, but we’ll share a couple of them:

1. Using the Polygon Bridge
2. Using OpenSea

How to Use the Polygon Bridge

• Navigate to the Polygon Wallet bridge site: https://wallet.polygon.technology/bridge
• Connect your Metamask wallet while it’s on the Ethereum Mainnet. You should see a page like the screenshot below, on the right side.

• Make sure that the tab is “Deposit” and that the ‘From’ and ‘To’ fields are set to the Ethereum Chain and Polygon Chain, respectively.
• Type in the desired amount of ETH that you wish to Bridge over from the Ethereum chain to the Polygon Chain.
• Click on “Transfer” and then continue throughout the following pop-ups as long as you are in agreement with what they specify.

• After a few confirmation pages, you should see the Metamask wallet pop-up requesting approval of the transfer.
• Approve the transaction, and wait until the transfer is complete.

Note: Transaction time is heavily dependent on the traffic of the Polygon Network. It could take hours in some instances — but your funds should be safe throughout this whole process. If you have any issues, feel free to reach out to their support here.

Congrats, you’ve bridged some ETH to Polygon. Now you can either get yourself some MATIC or purchase NFTs such as Spaceship Loot boxes from any NFT marketplace!

Using OpenSea

Alternatively, you could use OpenSea or other NFT marketplaces to bridge ETH to Polygon.

The process is fairly straightforward on OpenSea and you would essentially need to follow the steps given by their platform.

To get started, simply attempt to purchase your desired Polygon NFT on OpenSea by clicking on the “Checkout” button next to the NFT.

Afterward, follow the on-screen instructions (Deposit funds, Bridge ETH to Polygon, etc.).

After you’ve completed the steps, you should have bridged ETH to Polygon and purchased your desired NFT from the Polygon Network!

Closing Remarks

The Polygon Network allows for fast and inexpensive transactions. This, in addition to the mix of Off-Chain and On-Chain features of our upcoming Spaceships, should greatly help our Genesis Sipher NFT holders avoid paying hefty transaction costs for each action performed.

We hope that this guide has helped you with performing the necessary steps to get ready to perform many of the Blockchain-related features coming to the Ather Labs dashboard, such as the Loot box claiming, minting, and bringing NFTs back to the Off-Chain Account Inventory.

Sipher Website: https://sipher.xyz

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